Undying fan loyalty? Why?

[Jack of Arcades]

[ QUOTE ]
Say you are from pittsburgh, and you don't like the pirates FO and manager. Do you now ditch the pirates and root for some team you think is "well run" (code for actually going to win something this year, as someone said) like boston or st louis or the yankees? no, you dont. that is the analogy he is making, and it does hold. he is right about the community aspect.

[/ QUOTE ]

First of all, "well run" has nothing to do with "winning something." It has to do with putting together a good product. That product can be good without being a winner - a team can be fun to watch but not be overwhelmingly successful. There are for more organizations I would classify as "well run" than just st. louis or boston or the yankees.

Second of all, the analogy is suspect because by simply living in a country, you are financially supporting it with taxes. However, aside from a few stadium taxes, in order to financially support a team you have to order merchandise, go to games, etc. Therefore, a better analogy would be like moving to France.

I think the analogy was unnecessarily hostile, implying that a person rooting for another team is somehow a traitor to their community. I guess I miss out on the "community" aspect because the closest sports teams to me are still a ways away (New Orleans), but I can't help but think it misses the point. I watch sports because they're fun; therefore, I want to watch the team that's the most fun to watch. Losing sight of that is fine, and I've certainly done that at times. I don't think there's anyway I'll be able to root for a team other than the ones I currently do, except as secondary teams. Still, for someone to catch slack for it is unfair.

(This is more in line with the moving analogy than the "rooting for France" analogy, in my opinion.

(Actually, one of better anaologies I've heard on the subject was like a woman constantly returning to her abusive boyfriend. In a sense, sports fans exhbit Stockholm Syndrome).